A car dealer who swindled his customers was warned he faces a jail sentence "of some length" as his trial came to an end after more than 30 hours of deliberation by the jury.

Gwyn Meirion Roberts, 50, of Dolgoed, Llandudno Junction, had denied taking cash and part-exchange vehicles for high-end cars that were never delivered and stood trial at Caernarfon Crown Court.

He had insisted that he intended to honour all deals and deliver all the vehicles.

But, after deliberating for more than 33 hours over seven days, the jury delivered guilty verdicts on 23 of the 25 charges.

The charges included one of fraudulent trading and 24 of fraud by false representation against customers of Roberts' company, Menai Vehicle Solutions, which was based in Parc Menai in Bangor from 2008 until 2015.

Roberts was cleared of fraud against two customers, Glen Jones and Margaret Rees, but found guilty of the other charges.

Gwyn Meirion Roberts (Image: Arwyn Roberts)

After the jury foreman finished delivering the verdicts, Judge Huw Rees said he had already agreed to adjourn sentence for the preparation of pre-sentence reports.

He said: "Undoubtedly, he will receive a custodial sentence of some length, but I have agreed to adjourn sentence for the preparation of a report by the Probation Service."

The judge also thanked the jury for their work during the trial and the attention they had given to deliberating the evidence and reaching their verdicts.

Granting Roberts bail in order for him to put his affairs in order, the judge said: "By adjourning sentence, I am not giving you any promises about alternative sentence to custody."

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The prosecution alleged Roberts set up deals that were "too good to be true" in order to secure money from customers.

Prosecuting barrister Matthew Corbett Jones said Roberts was "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and had suggested it was not a matter of if but when the company failed.

In continuing to trade, the prosecutor claimed, Roberts was putting customers at risk of loss.

The court heard Roberts had previously worked in other car dealerships and many customers followed the defendant to his new venture.

Jurors were told that one customer, Dafydd Roberts, struck an agreement to trade his Audi for a Porsche in May 2015, paying £15,000 in the process. However, the Porsche was "never delivered".

Another customer, Richard Hughes, handed over £53,000 and a BMW vehicle in August 2015, but that vehicle was never delivered and his money was not returned.

One customer, Anwen Williams, asked Roberts to settle an existing finance agreement as part of a transaction to acquire a new vehicle. She handed Roberts a cheque of more than £28,000, which he banked, but did not pay the finance company.